Tiki bar’s Hawaiian heart transplant

Is tiki always tacky? Or does its have room under its thatched roofs for real Hawaiiana? Can kitsch and cocktails coexist with kani kapila music and the kama‘āina spirit?

Tennyson Lum, founding member of Ka Ehu Kai Hawaiian Band, seems to think they can. He’s helping turn the new Tiki Tom’s restaurant and lounge in Oakland into a kind of Hawaiian cultural center, with live Hawaiian music and dance Friday and Saturday nights, a monthly kani kapila (drop-in sesssion) and, coming up in June, outrigger canoe races. An on site, 24-hour Hawaiian music radio station, educational programs, festivals and other activities are also in the works.

Those may sound like big plans indeed, but Lum comes from the family that established the annual May Day festival and the Iā ‘Oe E Ka Lā hula competition in Pleasanton, now one of the largest and most prestigious outside of Hawaii (as well as one of the oldest). And he’s gathered a group of like-minded Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians, under the name Hawaiian Native Voice, who are working to make it all happen.

“Our main goals are to unite the Hawaiian communities, to enhance our cultures’ ways of life and bring pride that has been handed down through our forefathers and mothers,” Lum wrote Hawaii Insider recently.

Already they have four hula hālau and 10 bands — including Ka Ehu Kai on April 3 — that regularly play at Tiki Tom’s on Fridays and Saturdays; April 19 will mark the third kani kapila session, with bands, solo artists and hālau performing in half-hour time slots from noon to 6 p.m. on the third Sunday of each month.

“Just a few months ago I was thinking of moving back to the islands, just feeling what I’d accomplished here was over and it was time to move back home,” wrote Lum, who came to the Bay Area from Waimanalo some 40 years ago. The legacy of the hula festivals started by his late mother, the revered “Aunty Ehu”, was secure in the hands of his sister and others, and his father, Gordon Allen Lum, had also passed away in 2007.

But Tennyson Lum still had the nagging feeling that “there’s more to be done,” he said. Hawaiian Native Voice, and the happenings at Tiki Tom’s in Oakland, grew out of a meeting in October 2008 with friends who knew Lum was considering going back to the islands.

“There were questions of how come we as Hawaiians seem to be living outside of the islands but (are) not being acknowledged as Hawaiians, even from our own ‘ohana sometimes,” Lum recalled. “There were so many questions that came about that I knew I hadn’t fulfilled my family’s dreams here yet.”

Coincidentally, Tiki Tom’s — an outpost of the popular restaurant/lounge in Walnut Creek, where Ka Ehu Kai plays Sunday, April 4, and Friday, April 10 — had just opened the month before, and the management was willing to add real Hawaiian style to its tiki/surf shack vibe. Its location on the Oakland estuary (300 29th Ave., just before the Park Street bridge to Alameda), adds another island touch: “You walk into the place and you see nothing but water,” Lum said.

Speaking of water, on June 6 Tiki Tom’s and Hawaiian Native Voice will host outrigger canoe races and a festival in honor of Oliver Kala’au, the first president of the Northern California Outrigger Canoe Association, who died in 2008, 30 years after the organization’s founding. Watch this blog for more details closer to the date.

In other local Hawaiiana news: Don’t forget you can catch 101-year-old (yes, you read that right) ukulele legend Bill Tapia this Saturday, April 4, at Berkeley’s Freight & Salvage. Click here for Andrew Gilbert’s excellent preview/interview in 96 Hours. The Duke of Uke is still cool as a cuke …

And congratulations to Barry Flanagan, Nathan Aweau and Charles Ka’upu, otherwise known as Hapa: Their April 5 concert at Dougherty Valley Performing Arts Center in San Ramon appears to be sold out. But here’s a travel tip: When Hapa’s band members aren’t touring, you can find them every other month on Oahu at the upscale Veranda lounge at the Kahala Resort Their next performance is April 24, from 7 to 8:30 p.m.; seating starts at 5. Tickets are $45, including a glass of Taittinger Champagne (but excluding tax and tip). For reservations, call (808) 739-8760.

Nathan Aweau also plays upright bass to Benny Chong’s virtuoso uke on Wednesday nights at Neptune’s Garden in Pacific Beach Hotel in Waikiki, from 7 to 9; the duo next performs on April 22 (and again on April 23). Aweau’s also often at Chai’s Island Bistro in Honolulu on Friday nights, but will be away in April. Click here for Chai’s full lineup this month.